June is here and with the beginning of the hot Israeli Summer, a bunch of wine events are scheduled, some were today such as the Rosh Pina Wine Festival and Recanati's Spring Celebration at the winery.

Next week, Monday to Thursday will be held at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv the White and Red Nights festival (Leylot levanim adumim). Will be served for tasting wine from all over the world including Israel, both kosher and not (you guessed that right: mostly non-kosher). Israeli wineries in attendance: Dalton, GHW, Amphorae, Arza, Tabor, Tzuba, Mony, Tulip, Lueria, Pelter, Ella Valley, Tanya, Shiloh and more!

The entrance fee is 99 NIS/pers.

I'll try myself to make it one of the nights and will advise for those who'd like to catch up.

Hi GG.It was great to finally meet you at the shop today and thanks for saving the Yarden Pinot Noir 2005 for me.Concerning the White and Red Nights Festival at the Eretz Yisrael Museum, please note that the Festival website (www.leylot.co.il) lists the wines and only the following Israeli wineries are represented: Dalton, Amphorae, Arza, Tabor, Tulip, Lueria, Pelter & Kadesh Barnea. The kosher wine list is rather poor.Shabbat Shalom. Zvi

Hi Zvi, likewise, it truly was a pleasure to finally meet you guys in person! Until today, that lonely bottle of Pinot in the fridge made me sad each time I saw it to the point that I was tempted more than once to drink it myself!

We have indeed different info but if that's what's listed on the festival's website I'd trust that over the article I read about it on Ynet. That said, we can always hope we kosher drinkers that more israeli and/or kosher wineries will be there.

I enjoyed the beautiful day Friday at the outdoor tasting in the Garden of the Baron in Rosh Pina celebrating the Galilee Wine Festival. The Wineries represented included:-Golan Heights Winery-Galil Mountain Winery-Bazelet HaGolan Winery-Yiftachel Winery-Adir Winery-Lueria Winery-Or HaGanuz Winery-Ramot Naftali Winery-Galilee Boputique Winery-Odem Mountain WineryHighlights of my tasting included the 2011 Rose from Odem Mountain and the recently released 2010 Shiraz from Adir.Other wineries listed on the program including Ortal, Bashan, Baram, Tara Nova, Carmel, Mytav, Meister, Mayan Korazim, Naama, Avaya, Amram, Pelter, Ram, Shetran, Three Bodies. I didn't taste any of the wines from these wineries and I have to admit that I don't even know if they were represented. Perhaps not, as Rimon Winery was listed and I specifically looked for them in vain. While writing an article in my israelwinetaster.com blog about the festival, I came to the conclusion that this type of event is fun and a good way to meet new wineries, but I much rather the more personal meeting, discussing, and tasting at the winery. And the best way to taste/drink a wine, especially a new one, is at home with friends and family over a good meal. Read the article at http://wp.me/p1Dfhj-kJIncidentally, the admission was free, but for tasting, one was encouraged to purchase a glass which came with four tasting coupons for 40 shekels. You could purchase the four coupons without a glass for 20 shekels, but it was not clear to me how to taste wine without a glass. When I came to the booth of a winery, the persons serving rarely asked for the coupon so I did a lot more tasting than four wines. It seems that 99 shekels for the event in Tel Aviv is a bit expensive.

Hi David.The Jerusalem Festival takes place every year in the summer, usually the week after the 9th of Av.The Raanana Festival last year was at the end of October and I remember getting soaked in a downpour. That may be why they moved it to June this year.Zvi

I am beginning to think that, for such a small country as we have, there are just too many wine festivals. I suppose that it is a means to market the product. I plan on limiting myself to one or two of these each year. Maybe we should start to publish a grading system for these events. What do others think?

David-The Judean Hills event was May 24th at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. It was a lovely event(thank you Gabriel Geller).Ella was a no show, but Agur(Shuki came as well), Katlav, Tepperberg, Tzuba,Yaffo and several other Kosher ones were there along with 7 or 8 non Kosher wineries. Beautiful Jazz and cheese vendor and a guy grilling fish and other specialities as well. Not very well publicized, but a beautiful evening.

David, Dan - indeed many wine events but not too many, please don't say that ! The increasing number of that kind of event is a blessing IMHO since all gain a substantial success from year to year indicating so I hope more interest for wine in general in Israel, and for Israeli wine in particular!

Of course, depending on where one is geographically located some events are an absolute must while other are quite nice but not outstanding and thus not necessarily worth the shlep. For me, there are 3 absolute must-go: Sommelier, IsraWinExpo and the Jerusalem Wine Festival. While IsraWinExpo was a little disappointing this year in comparison with Sommelier, there were still a respectable number of new releases as well as a few boutique wineries that were a no-show at Sommelier. If last January's kosher wine exhibition in Jerusalem will be held also next year and on a regular basis from now on then it will also enter my list for sure. As to the Jerusalem Festival it's not extraordinary from a professional's perspective but it's a great event to hang out with friends and enjoy some good wine in an amazing atmosphere. That said, knowing that a few wineries usually show up only at the Raanana festival I'll probably check it out this time (I also don't want to wait till the end of July to enjoy a good wine feast! and the Tel Aviv one this week has too few kosher wineries).

Stacey B wrote:David-The Judean Hills event was May 24th at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. It was a lovely event(thank you Gabriel Geller).Ella was a no show, but Agur(Shuki came as well), Katlav, Tepperberg, Tzuba,Yaffo and several other Kosher ones were there along with 7 or 8 non Kosher wineries. Beautiful Jazz and cheese vendor and a guy grilling fish and other specialities as well. Not very well publicized, but a beautiful evening.

Stacey,Was that the Judean Hills event that was held in October or November last year with a race for runners the prior day or the day afterwards? I hope not because I had my heart set on tasting & jogging there. Dan

Craig, those are 2 different events. There was a Judean Hills Wine Festival last November that was held there (Kibbutz Tzora) and last May 24th event featured also Judean Hills Wineries but at the Botanical Garden of Jerusalem as part of a wine and jazz night, to the best of my knowledge the 2 events are not related. I guess there will be again a Judean Hills Festival probably also in the fall this year but details are not yet available.

Dan,I do not know for sure, but Yossi Yittach from Katlav, told us he has been attending for several years and I was under the impression it is always this time of year. If there is another I'd love to know as I will be back in Israel in October again.

Next week, 07/30 - 08/02 will be held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem the annual Jerusalem wine festival. Following what has now become a tradition, the price was again increased and will be this year 80 NIS (about $ 20) for the entrance to the festival starting at 7 pm and open till 11.30 pm, valid only for one night.

Good news, some wineries that were a no-show in previous years will be participating this time.